Category Archives: The Highground

International Day of Peace Event at The Highground Memorial Park

Day of Peace

Monday, September 21 at 1pm at the Peace Dove

Link to Peace Event on Highground Website

For peace-loving people in Northern Wisconsin, there will be “thoughtful words, acoustic music, zero politics…a gathering of fellowship to hopefully turn people’s thoughts toward peace, tolerance, joy,” at the Dove Mound in Highground Veterans Memorial Park, W7031 Ridge Rd, Neillsville WI 54456.

The peace event will begin at 1 p.m. on International Peace Day, Monday, September 21. Billed as “a good gathering of fellowship,” the Dove Mound was designed by Veterans For Peace Chapter 25 member David Giffey, a Vietnam war veteran, in 1985. It was built and dedicated in honor or POWs and MIAs in 1989, and is 100-feet in length, 130-feet in width, and 6-feet in height. Howard Sherpe (1944-2016), an Army medic in Vietnam, was a co-founder of the Highground project and chair of the design committee.

Sherpe wrote: “…what began as a memorial for POW-MIAs has taken on a much greater significance…it has developed a life of its own and has become a symbol of the peace we all seek.” The Native American influence is evident at the Dove Mound. Wisconsin has the greatest concentration of effigy mounds in the world. John Beaudin (1946-1993), a First Nation attorney from Madison, spoke during the Dove Mound dedication ceremony.

Beaudin, a veteran of the Vietnam war, said: “This effigy mound is a spiritual place where you can come and let your mother, the earth, hold you…leave your troubles and cares on the mound, as you walk away renewed and refreshed.”

Highground Veterans Memorial Park Website Home Page

Effigy Mound Historical Marker

Highground Education Days at The Highground Veterans Memorial Park with Special Presentations on The Dove Mound by Chapter 25 Founding Member David Giffey

Veterans For Peace Chapter 25 member David Giffey met approximately 300 Central Wisconsin public and private school student at The Highground Veterans Memorial Park near Neillsville, Clark County, on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 2 and 3, during Highground Education Days. The children receive tours of the Highground site during Education Days. Giffey designed the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound, seen in background, and supervised its construction in 1989. This photo shows a table with information used during the tours. A brief history of Native American effigy mounds and stories about the ceremonial pipe, on red cloth on table, were shared by Giffey with the students.

Middle school students from St. Mary’s, Amherst, are pictured near the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound at the Highground. The student at front right is shown holding David Giffey’s original drawing of the mourning dove effigy mound which he designed in 1986.

Fifth grade students from the Clark County cities of Colby and Loyal are pictured standing atop the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound during Education Days at The Highground Veterans’ Park near Neillsville.

From left, Carla, Allison and Lily, are shown after they scattered soil they brought to the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound from their homes in the City of Colby when they visited the Highground during Education days.

Amherst public school 5th grade students rest on the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound during Education Days at The Highground. Their teacher, Ms. Lutz, and a chaperone are pictured in middle row at left.

A class from the villages of Merrillan, Alma Center and Humbird rested October 3 on the Mourning Dove Effigy Mound as they toured the Highground in Clark County.

(Photos by David Giffey)

30th Anniversary of Highground Veterans Memorial Park

Saturday will mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Highground Veterans Memorial Park at Neillsville.

The anniversary will be marked with all day activities:

30th Anniversary Celebration of The Highground Veterans Memorial Park

The Highground Veterans Memorial Park near Neillsville was dedicated in 1988. A celebration commemorating its 30th year will be held Saturday.

Admission is free and parking will be available at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Neillsville along with free shuttle bus service to The Highground.

Here is the schedule of the day’s events:

Noon: A veterans’ yellow ribbon motorcade through Neillsville and ending at The Highground just west of the city.

1:30 p.m.: An UH-1H Huey helicopter will land at the park.

1:45 p.m.: A Missing Man Table Ceremony that honors prisoners of war and those missing in action with each item at and around the dining table having specific meaning.

2 p.m.: Main ceremony that will include keynote speaker Dick Leinenkugel, a senior White House adviser for the Department of Veterans Affairs, a former U.S. Marine and one time president of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. in Chippewa Falls.

4-8p.m.: Chicken dinner and music

8:15 p.m.: Fireworks

More information can be found at www.thehighground.us or by calling 715-743-4224.

An important component of the mission to further peace education has always been the Dove Mound, created heart and soul by David Giffey, a founding member of Chapter 25 Veterans for Peace.

The story of the Dove Mound creation will follow in a separate post.

Chapter 25 Member’s Art on Display at The Highground Thru August

June—Aug. 2017— Long Shadow: Memories of Vietnam The series consists of six mural-sized acrylic paintings on canvas based on memories and photos David Giffey took as a combat journalist with the Army 1st Infantry Division during the war in Vietnam. Other photographs and captions accompany the exhibit.

The Long Shadow series of paintings and photos by David Giffey, member of Chapter 25 Veterans for Peace, will be exhibited through August 30, 2017, at The Highground veterans’ memorial park, Neillsville, Wisconsin. Giffey also designed the dove mound earth sculpture built at The Highground in 1989.

The first of six mural-sized paintings in the Long Shadow exhibit is shown in the Learning Center building at The Highground. The six paintings are 8 feet x 6 feet,
and are accompanied by photos taken by David Giffey as a U.S. Army combat journalist with the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1965-66. The paintings were
completed between 1991 to 2013.

The Highground is placed in the center of the State of Wisconsin so that the location is a days trip away from any location in the state. Please view the directions for the best way to get to us. Please note that if you were using a GPS we strongly encourage you to follow our route as the GPS unit will want to take you down a different path. See this page on their website for directions.